Pick mechanism for knitting-machines.



F. WILCOMB. PICK MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES APPLICATION FILED/JAN. I7. 1014.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET Y.

P i I L. 4

* 0 OJ 3 if tlfesi Inventor;

F. WILCOMB.

PICK MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES. v APPLICATION FILED JAN. I7, 19M. 7

1 15 851 Patented Oct. 26, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. WILCOMB. PICK MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES] APPLICATION FILED 1AN.17.19I4. 1,158,351 I Patented 00t.26,1915.

v 3 SHEETS.SHEET 3.

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ri WP" "47PM a; i f uwg e rfi rw lull Elli sirloin.

RHODE ESLAND.

YEURING COMPANY, O1 CENTRAL EAL S,

RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION 01? "CICK MECHANISM FOR KliIT'EING-MAGHINES.

pecification of Letters Patent.

Patented (let. 26. filllllh.

Application .filcd January '17, 914. Serial No. 812,734.

To all whom it 1 22 (1,1/ concern:

lie it known that l, FRANK ll riicosna, citizen oi? the United States, residingat Nor ristmvn. Peinnsylvania, have invented ccr Lain neiv and useful Improvements in Pick Mechanism for Knitting-Machines. of u rich the following is a specification.

One o'ojectof my invention is to provide a pick Whichavill operate upon. short butt needles. and will have no picking action upon long butt needles.

A further object is to provide self-conined pick and needle alining cam unit 6 pable of being attached to or remored from the machine and embodying a swivel mounting for a single arm, double acting pick, and pressed. by a spring all mounted on a hr cket detachable or replaceable as one body.

Other objects of my invention vvill appear hereinaft- ,r.

The invention consists in the features and 'foni iination, and arrangement ofparts hereer described and particularly pointed o: l t in the cl aims.

' anying drawings Figure l i new i a needle cyli der with "'5 and Widening picks associated ig. 2 is a plan view of the pn (unit; Fig. 3 is an elevation .ner end of the pick uni.

In tl:

, p n view partly in nine," pic and its SW'lVQlmom.

end riew of the Widening pi 1. bottom plan. View of the Widen nip; 7 is sectional view of a \linder with a Widening pick unit in plrare showing modified control. mg means lit for movui the pick to neutral. position.

49 may he nmntioned incidentally that needle incl: and two part edle c glnid shown 1 l 4 are i'nadc we sulr'gect mat (or of shelf applica "led by mefor "F ttersPatent or too T States. Fig. i other form of l1 2 iew of th el .vaiion lwking f Jill" 9: it is side mew hraeket; 12 is a plan base packet.

and widei'ling picks are .ructi'on, one, however, beiii relation tot-he other, as end as l. have illustrated the Widening pick in detail it will be sufficient to describe this. The head of the pick. as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, has a buttstop or prong; 1 extending down therefrom, and on each side thereof there is; a laterally extending lip 2. This head is mounted upon a double acting arm 3 which is adapted to swing in first one direction and then the other to accord with the reciprocating movement of the needle cylinder. When the pick is in operative position the buttstop 1 will be'str'uck upby the short butt needles first on one side and then on the other, the butts in these actions assuming a position under first one lip and then the other, and as the pick arm is swung latterall due to the revolutions of the needle cylinder and the engaged needle butt, the pick arm Will be controlled to move downwardly to pick the needle, Whose butt has engaged it, into operative position for widening. This control of the pick is effected by the cam member shaving the inclines 5, along WlllClfllZllQ pick arm moves.

In order to prevent picking long butt needles should a long butt needle, for any reason strike. the pick, I provide a guard at the side of the pick,- and as l illustrate a. double acting pick this guard will be at each side thereof. It is indicated at 6, (hand consists in. downward oontii'iuations of the side o the pick just at the rear of the Hat lips so that the long needle butts, if they rike the pick, will the guard and month e pick aside without locating them selves under the lip 91, and as the pick descends due to riding; along the under side of the earn 4, the needle will not be carried down \v'th. it. ln other Words, in the c x of the Wide Lek, when a long edlc e-ltrilres the ward, it pushes it new; a, the needle inning to travel in its normal gt-lane. the pick for-cos i of its 4 ax ainst the inclined edge sults in a 1;lo'-vn'-.va1'd more: oil tln. pick. causing itto slip out cl ennu .Ut With the needle butt which proceeds n the normal rune, The guards lateral pressure on rowing pick may be said to be upside down in respect tothe widening pick. The pick arm is pivoted in the fork of a post 8 which is swiveled in the bracket 9, being held in place by a washer l0 and a screw 11. The pick arm can swing vertically about its pivot, and it can swing laterally because of the swivel mounting of the post.

The pivotal mounting consists of a pin 12 passing through the pick arm and bearing in the forked post, the pick arm being secured to this pivot pin by a set screw 13. The pivot pin has an extension 14 with a shoulder at 15 bearing on the side of the post,- and the outer end of this extension'l4 has a disk 16 held thereto by a screw 17.

A spring 18 is coiled about the extension, one end being secured at .19 to the disk. or finger piece 16, and the other end is secured to a disk 20 which, in turn, is pinned at 21 to the post. The two disks 16 and 20 have flanges which afford bearings for the coil spring. This spring-applies the necessary tension to the pickarm, and it will be noticed that being mounted upon the swivel post it partakes of the swiveling movement 'of the post, and thus always maintains its relation to the pick arm in the lateral swinging movement thereof due to contact with the rotating needle butt. My invention in this respect is distinguished from constructions in which a spring is employed attached to a rigid frame part at one end and having connection with the pick arm at the other end, the advantage being in my case that not only is the pick unit self-contained in that its pivoted and swivel mounting, together with the spring, are all carried as one body on the same bracket, but a practically uniform tension is applied to the pick arm no matter what its position in relation to the needle cylinder may be, radial or otherwise. The spring tension may be readily adjusted by-loosening the screw 17, turning the finger button or disk 16- to wind or unwind the spring, and. then the screw 17 is set up again to hold the disk 16 with the spring in its adjusted position.

' In order to move the pick arm into new tral position, I provide a controller. This may assume various forms, but in the par ticular form shown in Figs. 1, 2' and 3 it consists of a loop or open frame 22 through which the pick arm passes, this frame being carried by a stem 23 passing down through an opening in the bracket 9 and pressed by a spring 24 which bears on a collar 25 carried by the stem and upon a shoulder or plate 26 in the bracket arm. The spring being stronger than the coiled pick spring tends to force the controller downwardly to make the pick arm assume neutral position, and the controller is elevated to throw the pick into operation by any suitable means such as a lever 2'? operated in any suitable manner. It will be observed that this controller with its stem and spring is mounted in the same bracket which carries the pivotal and swivel mounting of the pick arm, and which also carries the deflecting cam 5. This bracket is attached to the frame by screws one of which is shown at w Fig. l passing through its base which base is indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, and the whole pick organization may be attached to or removed from the machine as one body, it not being necessaryto disturb the adjustment of the spring tension of the p the lever 27.

The narrowing pick is controlled by a cam plate 5 having a Vshaped notch or opening against the upwardly inclined edges of which the pick arm works. This cam is attached to the bracket 9, and this bracket carries the swiv'eled post which, in turn, carries a spring and pivot arrangement like that above described.

I In Fig. 7 I show a modified form of pick controller which, instead of being mounted in the bracket holding the complete pick organization, is mounted apart from the said bracket. This controller comprises an arm 22 having its upper end curved over the top of the pick arm, the lower part of the said controller being attached to a rod 28 by a screw 29. This rod is slidable 'vertically in a way formed in the fixed frame of the machine, and is operated by any suitable lever the end of which is indicated at 30. For pressing the arm normally downward, a spring 31 is located in a socket piece or sleeve 32 contained in a recess of the controller arm and bearing against the fixedframe at 33. This spring bears at its lower end upon the screw 29 and constantly tends to force the controller downwardly. It will. be seen in this construction that the controller is arranged on the outisde of the fixed frame of the machine, and separate from the pick carrying bracket.

In Fig. 7 the pick arm is shown in its neutral position. In this form the spring mounting of the pick arm is substantially the same as that above described designed to secure a p.--actically uniform tension on the pick arm instead of a varying tension due to the lateralswing of the pick arm which, in the case where a spring is attached screwed the loose ring of the knitting head. The base bracket is split and a clamp screw draws it together about the stem to hold .tl -latter together with the pick bracket different heights. The defleeting cam 'l for the pick "arm furnishes a support the alining or leveling cam 3'2 the function of which ie substantially the same as that disclosed at E in Letters United dtates granted to J. D.

Patent'of i Hemphill September. 7, 1909, #933,443.

It will. be observed that the depending portion 254 carries the stem 23 of the p 5255, together with its'sprin'g, and that the main part or the pick arnrbracket carries the swivel inonnting'ot the pick arm in additi on to deflecting cam and the leveling cam for the needle butts. By loosening the clamp so 3" the pick arm bracket, together w: h the devices just mentioned, carried. therel can he raised or lowered to suit mach nes with needle butts of different levels, and when the proper position is reached the tightening of the screw 36 will set the pick unit in this adjustment. Ev this adjustment the pick can he brought into the path of the needle butts oncoarse gages and line gages or tight orloose knit ting. It will he observed also that the pick adjustmentjand the adjustment of the leveling cam takes place in unison.

In some cases, as in the Hemphill type of machine, the widening pick is attacl'ied to the base ring of the machine, while the nar rowing. pick is attached to the plate which carries the cams. When the cams are raised to make tight worker lowered to knit loose work, the narrowing pick is also raised or lowered with it, and the plane of the needle butts'is thereby changed. The leveling or aliping cam should be at all times low enough to draw all the butts to one level which is always low or lower than the level reached by the butts raised by the liar rowing, pick. Vi hen the lifting (narrowing) pick 7 ralses the needles into their inoperative high position, the needle butts are often .out of line, irregular as to height due to the pick throwing some butts higher than others, or all of them too high to aline with the widening pick. The leveling cam guides the butts into an even true line in the proper position for the widening pick to engage the butts.

I claim asmy invention l. A pick tor widening or narrowing has ing a butt-stop with a lip on each side thereof for picking iort hutt needles, and a guard at each. side of the butt-stop to he impinged up n 'h vthe long hutts for deflecting the pick to avoid picking.

2. A pick having. the butt-stop and lips for engaging the short butt-needles, and guards in rear of and below said lips to prevent the long butt needles from being engaged hy'said stop and lips- '3 In combination, a single pick arm, a

horizontal pivot pin for said arm, a vertically extending swiveled post carrying said horizontal pivot, a spiral spring about said. horizontal pivot connected to the swiveled post at one end and to the horizontal pivot pin at its other end, saidsp'ring moving with the post and applying its force to move the pick armvertically and with uniform tension in all positions of the swiveled post, and. a pick cam to give the pick vertical movement as it swings laterally, substan tially as described. 2

4.. A. pick for knitting machines having a butt-stop and a lip adjacent for picking short butt needles, and a guard for impact of long butt needles, said guard located in rear of the lip and in line with the buttstop, and a cam for directing the pick, under said impach'o'ut of the plane of movement of the needle butt, substantially as described.

5. In cornhination, a single pick arm, a horizontal pivot pin for said arm, a vertically extending swiveled post carrying, said horizontal pivot, a spiral spring about said horizontal pivot connected to the swiveled post at one end and to the horizontal pivot pin at its other end, said spring moving with the post and. applying its force to move the pick arm vertically and with uniform tension in all positions of the swiveled post, a pick cam to give the pick vertical move ment as it swings laterallv and a controller enoaging; the pick arm between. its pivot and its free end, with connections for 1noving said controller and pick downwardly to inoperative pos tion and in opposition to the A pick unit having a hracket to he attached to or detached. from the machine, -said bracket having mounted thereon a swivel mounting; with a pick arm and'its spring hounte cam. at the inner end of thehracket, and a controller to on age the pick arm interme- @iate of its pi. and its end to move it to neutralposition, and. a spring mounted in the bracket and operating upon the controller, substantially as described.

'7. A pick unit comprising a pick arm, a pick bracket, a hivot and swivel mounting on the hracket for the pickarm, a spring carried by the swivel mountiiig, and. a base bracket in which the pick bracket is mounted adjustably to be set in difierent vertical positions said base bracket being detachable portion of the pick bracket, and a base bracket in which said depending portion is adjustably' mounted to be set in different verticalpositions, substantially as described.

9. In combination a pick bracket, a pick arm mounted thereon, a deflecting cam also mounted thereon, a leveling cam for the needle butts mounted on the face of the de fleeting cam, and a base bracket in which the pick bracket is mounted adjustably to be set at different levels, substantially as described.

10. A pick unit comprising a pick arm, a deflecting cam, a leveling cam for the needle butts, a pick bracket carrying the pick, the deflecting cam and the leveling cam, and a base bracket in which the said pick bracket is vertically adjustable, sub stantially as described.

11. Incombination a pick arm, a swivel mounting for the pick arm, a spring on the swivel mounting tending to move the arm vertically,'a deflecting cam for the pick arm, and a leveling cam for the needles, and a bracket carrying as a unit the pick arm, fits mounting, the deflecting cam and the leveling cam, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

FRANK WILCOMB.

Witnesses H, J. GREEK,- JoHN T. Pornnnnn 

